I
had the pleasure of heading to Liege in Belgium last
week with my awesome pal Ruth. Like a modern day Thelma & Louise of the
cycling sorority, we packed our bikes into the rental Merc (a nice gratis
upgrade, it pays to flutter ones eyes when picking it up!) and hot-footed it in
the champagne-gold beast down to the 'chunnel at Folkestone, both giddy with
excitement at heading to the Ardennes for the
first time!

Saturday saw us tackle the LBL Challenge sportive, we plumped for the medium route, around 100 miles or so, eschewing the daddio of the full 276km route (although plans are firmly hatched to return and try the big one in 2014... now we have some idea of the bumps in the Ardennes!) Our route still featured most of the meaty climbs to sink our teeth into (and pray my knackered achilles didn't give out). We took in the Col du Rosier, the Maquisard - a 6km winding bugger falling during the warmest part of the day, Mont Theux, a cruelly placed Côte de La Redoute coming 110km into the ride, pushing onto the Colonster, before a final kick in the teeth at 152km that is the côte de Saint-Nicolas, which despite its pretty gnarly gradients, proved to be a real kick, climbing through the industrial streets glancing across to houses standing a curious angles to the tarmac we rode up. Big shout outs and respect to all those who smashed out the full distance one, especially Mr Liebo, cruising back into town ahead of us haha!

A fair few brits were present on the ride, and was most lovely to bump into people we knew out on the course. We even spied plenty of ozzies over for the ride, most noticeable the dude in the full Greenedge garb... lets hope they werent pro's seeking a little extra training ;)

Anyway, enough of the ride, all I can say is its an event id highly recommend heading to, theres a distinctly chilled vibe to it, forget your super-subscribed euro sportive-type fare here... entries possible on the line with a queue of about 2 people. Picking up numbers and setting off from the start village easily completed in 15 minutes max!

Sunday we headed back to the place of suffering the day before, La Redoute, making a cosy pitch armed with flags, beers, whiskey and plenty of race excitement! Dan Martin took the honors on the day, with a canny move on Purito in the finale. He rode strong and smart, and although the throngs of thousands around us, ardent if not die-hard Gilbert fans, were disappointed, the vibe was pretty awesome. I hope to be back next year, who knows, Schleck might get his scrawny arse in gear to return to the Ardennes with vigor although the season is a long one ;)

So, a few months ago I noticed a cool new instagram account appearing on my feed. "Leave It On The Road" had me intrigued... what was the message behind these lovely pics of two dudes riding in some pretty breathtaking scenes? Bianchista was privileged to grab a chat with Michael Tabtabai & Andrew Hudon, those 'two dudes' behind this very special project.

Bianchista - So,
‘leave it on the road’... sounds like an amazing adventure project... I mean,
3500 miles in 24 days is pretty nuts. That’s pushing some serious limits...
what purpose could make you wake up one day and decide to undertake such a
mammoth task?”

Andrew- For me it began with my
mother’s cancer diagnosis in 2005. My brother and I were both endurance
athletes, he as a runner and I as a cyclist. We felt helpless to do anything
for our mother, and wanted to do something to make a difference. We came up with
the idea of doing a combined event in Maine (our mother’s home state) where he
would run up the coast and I would ride around the interior, 900 miles in 9
days, and then we would finish together on the top of Cadillac Mountain,
raising money and awareness for cancer research as we went. We did the event in
2006. My brother “retired” after that and went to med school, but I had the
bug. After that I became involved with a few different cancer charities. It
became a cycle; the more survivors and patients I met, the more inspired I
became, the more I wanted to get involved and ride in their honor. To me it has
been my way of fighting back against an enemy that has devastated my family and
friends. When I feel tired or it hurts, I know that none of the people I’m
riding for ever gave up, and I can’t either. It’s a source of strength, a way
to find positive energy out of tragedy, and a source of healing for us. It’s a
way to inspire others, to inspire each other, and to make a difference in
the world, however small it may be. It’s an experience that can never possibly
be described.

Michael- For me this ride is a tribute to my father, Farzad Tabtabai, who
lost his battle with cancer in late 2011. He fought colon cancer, breast cancer
and bladder cancer for over ten years. I knew when he passed away that I had to
do something like this ride, for my dad, my family, myself and anyone who has
been affected in some way by cancer. The only question was how quickly we could
make this happen. We've basically been working for a year and a half
to make it happen. Going further back in history, I got in to cycling as a way
to stay healthy in my 20’s. My father had already been fighting colon cancer
for a few years at that point, and I knew I needed to live a healthier
lifestyle now that I had a family history of the disease. Riding and raising
funds for cancer-fighting causes was one way I felt I could get rid of some of
the helplessness that comes when a family member fights cancer. It was my small
way of doing something positive. After
riding several organized charity rides and getting in to racing, I graduated to
riding with Andrew on his more epic challenges. Over the years that has become
a partnership, with Andrew focusing on the logistical side of the rides and me
taking over the storytelling side. Leave It On The Road is definitely the most
refined version of this partnership, and we've been able to bring on
some amazing sponsors to support us in this effort. We wouldn't be
able to do it without them.

Bianchista - One
thing we at Bianchista HQ spied recently is that you Michael, happen to be a
lucky little devil and have made the testing lab for the insane looking ‘Google
glass’!

Is this something you will be utilizing on the trip?

Michael- Yeah, the Google Glass is
something we are really excited about. My day job deals in advertising
& technology, and I had heard quite a lot about its capabilities for
real time filming, posting and communicating with people. It’s essentially
a voice-controlled computer with a tiny heads up display. Once you combine
that connectivity with an event like this, the possibilities are endless. The
act of recapping a day’s events on the bike for your supporters can see
usually takes a couple hours of precious recovery time each night. Now
with the Glass we’ll be able to do a lot of that stuff in real time as we’re
riding. Or as we've found on previous rides, sometimes the
route you've planned months ahead of time
just isn't ride-able. A bridge is closed for repair and you have to
spend another two hours riding around to the next one. Having navigation
tools right there in your glasses, controlled by your voice could be a big help
for us. Even just chatting with our wives and showing them the amazing things
we’re seeing, when we see them... I couldn't be more excited
about that. And of course there’s always ordering pizza from the road, too!

Bianchista - In 2010
you undertook another pretty mammoth ride with purpose, tell us
about that? Did you kind of feel like there was unfinished business to be
done for this ride?

Andrew
- The 2010 ride was called The Resilience Ride. It was in honor of the 10 year
anniversary of a woman from my home town recovering from colon cancer and
inline skating from upstate New York to Colorado. The ride went from Boulder,
through my hometown in New York, and finished in Connecticut. I had every
intention of it being the last one. However, less than a year later, a close
family friend died from a brain tumor. Within months of that, Mike’s father
passed away. My worst fear when my mom was diagnosed, was that I would lose
her. Now, six years later, I was watching my best friend live through my worst
fear. There is no greater call to
action than that. Whether Mike had wanted to ride across the country or walk
barefoot across Antarctica, I was going to be there by his side to do what I
could to help, and I would be there for my friend who passed away as well.

Bianchista
- Retul and Over The Top Productions held a colon cancer discussion panel at
which you both spoke recently, how was that? Do you feel that awareness of this disease is
something that needs improving upon? I know in the UK the
past couple of years was a big push to highlight the awareness of prostate
cancer in particular, and they do a few bits with British Cycling..

Andrew
- Colon cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second
leading cause of cancer death in men and women combined in the US. The American Cancer
Society estimates that 142,820 people will be diagnosed in 2013 and that 50,830 will die from
colon cancer in the United States. But the disease is entirely preventable through proper
screening. Unfortunately, it’s not something people want to talk about. In fact, I didn't find out until
after the show that my own family has a history of the disease, meaning I need to start my screenings earlier
than the typical age of 50.

Michael
- The saddest part about colon cancer is that it can be completely prevented if
you’re regularly screened. Part of our awareness campaign is to help tell the stories of
young people who have fought the disease, like Brian Novak, who was on the panel discussion.
He was diagnosed with stage IIIB colon cancer at just 36. If we can get people thinking about colon
cancer screening at a younger age, we can really make an impact on the disease. It’s that simple!

Bianchista
- You have quite an awesome roster of sponsors, and its great to see such a
roll call of companies on board. Can you tell us a little bit about the support you guys will receive
for the training period and also the actual ride?

Michael
- We've been so fortunate to land our amazing sponsors, we literally
could not do this ride without their support. When we first started
planning for the ride Andrew and I decided that we only wanted to work
with people and brands that were as passionate about our cause and our story as
we were. We really needed to be able to leverage that passion through
social media to help tell the story of the ride. There are so many more
social tools available to us on LIOTR than when we did the Resilience Ride
just a few years ago. And all of our sponsors have big followings in places
like Instagram, Facebook and Tumblr. So it is a huge help for us to have them
passionately talking about what we’re doing through their
communities. As far as financial support, we’ve been able to fully fund
the logistics of the ride with early sponsor contributions, which means that
100% of the money we raise goes directly to the Colon Cancer Alliance and
The Colon Club. That is huge for us! Material support is immensely
important as well, Raphahas supplied us with the best cycling clothing in
the world for our training and the ride itself. World renowned frame builder Sacha
White will be building fully custom Speedvagenroad bikes for our journey,
and component sponsors SRAM, Enveand Chris King Components will outfit
our bikes with their best pieces. Our timekeeping partner Tudorhas
some special products in the works, as well as helping us tremendously
with fundraising and social media support.

It
takes a lot of fuel to cross the country and one of the first things people ask
is “what the hell do

you EAT?” - Skratch Labs and Justin’s have
been fueling us throughout the last several months of training, and
they’ll be providing nutrition for the ride as well. Of course, the other
important fuel source for cyclists is coffee; so Grimpeur Bros. Specialty
Coffee will be roasting up special beans for the journey. Sponsors Wieden+Kennedy
and Legwork are helping to build the social campaign and digital live
tracker for the ride. Poler is helping us with gear and social support,
andRetuland The Sufferfesthave helped us through training with bike
fittings and training videos. Our coach Aidan Charles Coaching has
been working with us to make sure we are physically ready to tackle an
undertaking like this. Phew... I think that’s everyone... for now! Be sure
to head to our page for more info on our sponsors and their gear.

Bianchista
- So what are the goals
of the project? (Financial and otherwise) Wanna hook us up with a way people inspired by your story and vision can assist you
in reaching your target?

Andrew
- The monetary goal is to raise $52,000. The previous three rides have summed to
$48,000, so this will round it out to an
even $100,000. For me personally, my goals are to help Mike on the road and be there as he goes through this process, and, with this
being our last ride, to inspire someone else to take up the cause. I would love for someone to reach out to
us after this and to help them do their own ride!

Michael
- My personal goal is to pay respect to my father’s time on this earth. He was
a quiet, humble guy who taught me a lot about strength and love through
his battle with cancer. Every single training ride for this event has been
a therapy session for me - a way to cope with his absence. I hope to leave
the negatives on the road and create some space for the positive. And I
hope my father’s story and this ride provide some help and hope to others
who are going through the same experiences mine & Andrew’s family have
gone through.

To
get involved, see our story as it happens, spread the word, and most importantly
to donate, go to www.leaveitontheroad.com and follow us on Instagram at
www.instagram.com/leaveitontheroad